Suffering a traumatic brain injury can be a life-changing event, but it isn’t just the initial injury itself that may impact your quality of life or ability to earn a living. The long-term cognitive effects of suffering brain trauma can be some of the most devastating, and often result in lost wages and extensive time spent in rehabilitation.
Cognition is your ability to think about, understand, and act on information. It's how you know things and consider whether to take any given action. When basic cognitive abilities are impaired, it becomes difficult to complete complex work-related tasks or even partake in basic hobbies you may have previously enjoyed your entire life.
If you’ve suffered a brain injury and are experiencing cognition issues, an experienced Virginia traumatic brain injury lawyer can protect your right to compensation from the individual or organization responsible for your injury.
Common Cognitive Impairments Experienced After a Brain Injury
Traumatic brain injuries can lead to a wide range of both minor and extremely serious physical and mental symptoms. After suffering a brain injury from an accident caused by a negligent party, you may also experience problems with any or all of these cognitive functions:
- Language skills like forming words or understanding what a word means
- Remembering past events
- Forming new memories
- Visual perception difficulty
- Inability to concentrate for long periods
- Problem-solving skills
- Speed of thoughts
- Uncontrollable repetition of thoughts and actions
- Impulse control
Because of the basic nature of those cognitive functions, experiencing these traumatic brain injury-related symptoms can potentially interrupt every aspect of your life. Normal daily activities such as driving or crossing the street on foot may become difficult or even actively dangerous. Impaired cognition may reduce your quality of life due to difficulties following normal conversation flows or understanding information presented in a newspaper, book, or television program.
The combination of memory lapses, impaired language skills, and trouble understanding information may make it difficult to perform normal tasks. Simply scheduling a doctor’s appointment or following steps in cooking recipes may become extremely frustrating. Those cognitive impairments may further cause family and work stress as an inability to think through the consequences of a potential action can lead to impulsive or inappropriate behavior.
If you experience these symptoms, you may find yourself unable to hold down a steady job and earn an income. When you are unable to work due to cognitive difficulties, a skilled Richmond personal injury lawyer with experience handling brain injury cases can give you peace of mind and assist in receiving compensation for your brain injury.
